Strategy and Tactics

The fundamental strategy of the game is to hit the ball straight up the side walls to the back corners (referred to as a 'good length' shot), then move to the centre of the court to be well placed to retrieve the opponent's return. Attacking with soft shots to the front corners (referred to as 'drop shots') causes the opponent to cover more of the court and may result in an outright winner. 'Angle' shots are used for deception and again to cause the opponent to cover more of the court.

Highly-skilled players will attempt to finish rallies by hitting the ball at an angle onto the front wall and into the 'nick' (the junction between the side wall and floor), causing the ball to roll along the floor and be unreturnable. However, if the shot misses the nick, the ball may bounce out from the side wall and allow the opponent an easy attacking shot.